It may take a true pencil expert to understand the common pencil’s problem but hang in there as we try to explain. When using standard mechanical pencils, the lead wears down on one side, forming a slanted surface. Each time you write you end up using a different lead surface (pointy, flat, wide, thin, etc.) depending on how you hold the pencil. This can cause multiple annoyances:
• You might start with a sharp point, but as you continue to write the point is worn down and thus your line widths are not uniform. This can also lead to smudgy and thick lines.
• If you happen to start writing with the tip of the angled point, it is likely to scratch or catch on the paper.
• The various angles at which the lead comes into contact with the paper commonly cause lead breakage.

The Kuru Toga, on the other hand, has a core rotation mechanism that continually rotates the pencil lead as you write. A spring-loaded clutch twists the lead incrementally every time you lift the pencil from the paper. This allows a uniform wearing of the lead so that it always remains pointed. This is great for students! It not only solves the problems above, but also gives you an amazingly thin line. In effect, you use only 50% of the lead area that you were previously using with your old mechanical pencil.

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Customer Reviews

As someone who has a degree in Industrial Design, I just love highly technical
pencils. So I bought two of these (black and silver), and they are now my
preferred pencils out of my collection (more than 30, mostly contemporary, with
some NOS vintage ones). These are very handsome pencils, especially in black
(the silver version is a little less slick looking, just because of the color).

The lead really rotates, and you indeed end up with more even lines and a
cleaner writing as a result of the mechanism. The grip area is really well made,
out of high quality and precisely machined aluminum, with very precise
tolerances; the genuine attention to quality shines! A little window in the the
grip area is open to (barely) show a (very) small part of the inner mechanism;
on this orange plastic part of the mechanism, there is a printed Kuru Toga logo
that wheels past by, while you use the pencil and the mechanism become active.

There is a slightest 'floating point' feeling to the lead, as the little black
part on the tip, to which the lead rod is attached (see the close up picture of
the nib), is directly mounted to the internal 'Kuru Toga Engine', which is a
spring-loaded clutch. That black part hence 'moves' inside the pencil for a
fraction of a millimeter (you barely see it) each time you hit the paper,
activating the spring-loaded clutch, which rotates the lead. But in all honesty,
if you don't concentrate to see it and feel it, you don't really notice. I hope
this internal engine is made of wear-proof plastic (such as Polyamide-imides -
check it out on Wikipedia), and has been rated to write for a long time, as I
sometimes wonder what will happen if the internal clutch's ratchet teeth become
dull.

Two things I regret on this pencil: I wish the upper part of the body was also
made of the same nicely machined aluminum, and I wish they had put a more, I
don't know, "hi-tech" looking clip. Then this pencil would be the p-e-r-f-e-c-t
mechanical pencil!

As it is, at the price, this is the best value out there, as far as mechanical
pencils are concerned. I plan to buy several more, as I am too afraid that Uni
will either stop making this particular model (aluminum is expensive!), or lower
the quality of the inner components in the next iteration of the pencils.

I just bought this, as well as the Pipe Shift Uni pencil. I actually like the
Pipe shift better kind of, it's really close tie.

This pencil is more evenly balanced, and the mechanism that gives a straight
line is really cool. I had to write and pay attention to notice the feature
though, some may not notice it. But you can see the lines are more consistent
etc...

The ONLY reason I give it 4 starts instead of 5 is because it's not 100% metal
body, only the bottom half is. And the "nib" is not retractable, though I know
that would be difficult to do since it already has the other mechanism in it.

This is an incredibly solid pencil, and annihilates any other pencil you would
find in the USA (I'm from Indiana) or wal-mart Etc...

I do prefer the Pipe shift for some odd reason though; i think it's a different
concept and I like the fact that I don't have to worry about breaking the nib.

You really can't go wrong with any of these pencils from Uni. I plan to get some
more in different colors, and maybe try out the Pentel graphgear

Very high quality mechanical pencil at a good price compared to what I have
seen. What I love about these pencils that have the Kuru Toga engine, and it
actually works! I have been collecting pencils for a while and this pencil has
been standing out quite well. It has a nice weight to it and it has pretty good
balance. I just wish that this had a full metal (aluminum, I guess,) body. I
don't know if anybody else is experiencing the same thing, but my only complaint
is that the eraser cap, after some time, gets kind of loose and even to the
point that sometimes when you are flipping it over to use the eraser it would
just fly off.

This pencil is Wonderful. I would so give it a five, but there are certain
no-no's but it's not that big of a deal. Tbh, i would give it a 4.5, not a 4,
but since the rating system only have whole numbers...
Well I remember that someone had already address the issue about the mechanism's
function. True that it's an amazing mechanism; i use it and it certain did the
work, but like when putting at an angle and that you don't press the pencil down
for the mechanism to move, the pencil's lead will get somewhat dull until you
lift the pencil up. Still, i kinda write things and put pressure on the pencil,
so this isn't a bad thing for me, but something i write lightly, so this
happens. Still, it's a wonderful pencil, it works the way it suppose to work,
i've been writing with this pencil ever since i got it from the mail. i didn't
have to turn my pencils around all the time.
The appearance of this pencil is very nice, slick, cool, slim, and really
smooth. Some people say that it's not different from high grade version, to me I
don't have that, but from the look of it, this design was made for people that
want a better grip of the pencil. I've heard elsewhere that the high grade was
made of silicon materials, and some people lost the grip while holding the
pencil.
To me, i like the grip, i slip my pencils a lot so i was glad i ordered this
version. And also, I like the look of this version better. The high grade one
isn't aesthetically appealing to me... (lol).
Imo, you should really take care of the pencil. The price isn't a cheap price
for a pencil, but it was worth it (for me and for those who likes to write
nicely and neatly). The technology of this pencil is top notch, and it's also a
beautiful pencil. Nobody want to lose their $ right? :]

This is one of the best mechanical pencils I have ever purchased and I highly
recommend it!

The pencil has many positives. The first being the rotating mechanism works
flawlessly consistently providing a nice sharp tip albeit it takes a bit of
getting used to as I'm accustomed to rotating pencils in my hand to keep the tip
sharp so it might take you a while to get used to relearn how to held your
pencil as you write. The second positive is the build of the pencil. I lost my
first one because somebody stole it so I went to the local supply store and
bought a regular kuru toga (the plastic one). The plastic one feels cheap and
not nearly as well constructed so it is definitely worth the extra money for the
metal version. Lastly the pencil has a nice balenced weight in your hand and
doesn't feel too bulky, which is why I won't deduct points for the upper half
being made of plastic because that might make it bulkier and not feel so perfect
in your hands

The only negative that I can thing of is the gunmetal versions grip. The grip is
made of metal and being an engineer I'm used to holding a metal grip in my
pencils instead of rubber. But the kuru toga grip is a bit more gritty if that
makes any sense(akin to a nair file...sorta) so you will rub of some skin using
it. This isn't a functional problem and is a lot less bad than I make it sound
because you can certainly use this for extended periods of time in comfort. The
biggest issue with this is in the gunmetal version you will get white streaks of
skin cells in the grip section so my biggest problem is that it lowers the
aesthetic beauty and you gotta keep cleaning it thats why I recommend the white
version so this isn't a problem. The last negative is that the tip doesn't
retract meaning you can't have you pencil in your pocket for immediate use.